Gurugram: The internal strife in ex-Chief Minister Bansi Lal’s family has again come to the fore—this time, over the suspension of outpatient department (OPD) services at Chaudhary Bansi Lal Civil Hospital, Bhiwani.
At the core of the issue is a new medical college in Bhiwani—Pandit Neki Ram Sharma Medical College. The suspension of OPD services at the civil hospital followed the deputation of doctors from district hospitals to the medical college, which awaits a formal inauguration.
The developments at the civil hospital have shattered the calm in Bansi Lal’s family since the assembly polls last October.
Aggrieved the OPD is not functioning, Congress leader Anirudh Chaudhry, the grandson of Chaudhary Bansi Lal, staged a major protest in the city on 9 June. Anirudh has explicitly stated that the facilities at the Chaudhary Bansi Lal Civil Hospital are in a dismal state.
“The OPD is shut, the lifts are non-functional, and the patients are suffering,” he commented.
Speaking to The Print Friday, Anirudh Chaudhry said that people who revere Bansi Lal demand that the OPD services resume and the civil hospital operate independently, as civil hospitals in other Haryana cities.
Kiran Choudhry, Rajya Sabha MP and Bansi Lal’s daughter-in-law, however, has dismissed the entire affair as “mere politicking”.
Brushing off the Anirudh Chaudhry-led protests, she said Friday: “The medical college has been set up through the efforts of Shruti (Choudhry, Haryana minister and Kiran Choudhry’s daughter).”
Since inspections at the new medical college are coming up, some doctors from Chaudhary Bansi Lal Hospital are not at the Pandit Neki Ram Medical College.
Kiran Choudhry claimed people are still receiving OPD services at the civil hospital, and once the inspections are over, the doctors will return to the hospital and resume operations.
“It is just that some people are trying to do politics over this,” she added.
Anirudh Chaudhry expressed concerns over efforts underway to destroy Chaudhary Bansi Lal’s legacy. He asserted firmly, “Chaudhary Bansi Lal’s name cannot be erased. He has done so much for the state.”
Anirudh said that whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Bhiwani or the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency, Bansi Lal’s name stays on his lips. Anirudh added that he is confident and that even the Prime Minister would not tolerate attempts to erase the former CM. Anirudh also mentioned that his aunt (Kiran Choudhry) and sister Shruti Choudhry had their decisions to make, informing that the locals had already formed a committee and decided to take action based on the prevailing circumstances.
Anirudh Chaudhry, the son of Chaudhary Bansi Lal’s elder son Ranbir Mahindra, contested against Shruti Choudhry, daughter of Kiran Choudhry and former CM’s younger son Surender Singh, in the 2024 assembly elections in Tosham.
Kiran Choudhry, without explicitly naming Anirudh, took a dig at him, saying, “Some people have opened their shops and have been interfering. There is no need to say, everyone knows (what is happening). Once the medical college starts, the OPD vacancies will go down.”
Saying that a part of the budget was allocated for Chaudhary Bansi Lal Civil Hospital, she highlighted plans for enhancements to the hospital facilities.
It is worth noting that Pandit Neki Ram Sharma, after whom the medical college is named, was a prominent Indian freedom fighter and politician known for his opposition to British colonial rule and his contributions to India’s Independence movement. He was born in Kelanga village at Bhiwani in 1887 and passed away in 1956.
For now, this tug-of-war over the civil hospital’s OPD services has brought the old rivalries within the Chaudhary Bansi Lal family to the surface.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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